The penultimate week of the 2024 NFL regular season starts early with a Christmas Day double-header (Chiefs v. Steelers and Ravens v. Texans) on Netflix. Which worries me. Netflix had a bunch of problems live-streaming a boxing match last month due to so many people trying to watch. This is two NFL games, with a Beyonce concert in between, so I'm expecting reception to be rough and will be checking my local broadcast listings to see if I can get the Chiefs game that way.
Here are my picks, as entered in ESPN's "Pigskin Pick'em" game. "Upset" picks -- that is, picks where I'm in the minority as to who will win -- have asterisks next to them. Any changes to my initial picks will be made before kickoff and will be noted below.
- Kansas City Chiefs beat Pittsburgh Steelers
- Baltimore Ravens beat Houston Texans
- Seattle Seahawks beat Chicago Bears
- Los Angeles Chargers beat New England Patriots
- Denver Broncos beat Cincinnati Bengals*
- Los Angeles Rams beat Arizona Cardinals
- Indianapolis Colts beat New York Giants
- New York Jets beat Buffalo Bills*
- New Orleans Saints beat Las Vegas Raiders
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Carolina Panthers
- Jacksonville Jaguars beat Tennessee Titans
- Dallas Cowboys beat Philadelphia Eagles*
- Miami Dolphins beat Cleveland Browns
- Minnesota Vikings beat Green Bay Packers
- Washington Commanders beat Atlanta Falcons
- Detroit Lions beat San Francisco 49ers
Every part of the season presents its own difficulties with predicting wins/losses, but these last two weeks are a real mess.
Who's injured and won't be playing?
Who's injured but will be playing because one or both of these two games will make the difference between getting or not getting into the playoffs, grabbing top seed or not, etc.?
Will a team that has its playoff prospects completely settled -- e.g. they know they'll not make the playoffs, or they know they'll be a wild card, have top seed nailed or out of reach, etc. -- hold out some of its better players so as to avoid injuries that might still be problems next season?
Will one of the teams in the cellar try out new players or strategies that suddenly turn things around for them and get them an early start on doing better next season?
If I'm not mistaken, ESPN's Pick'Em Game goes to a "bracket" system with the regular season end. At the moment, I expect the Super Bowl to be a Chiefs-Lions match, but there's a lot of football left to play so I could be very wrong.
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